Your How-To Guide for A Powerful Vision Board

Your How-To Guide for A Powerful Vision Board

Vision Boards : What? Why? How?

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve been meaning to make a vision board for a long time now. What is a vision board, you ask? Essentially, a vision board is a visual hub for all of your ideas, dreams, and goals. You can pin photos, lists, or reminders of things you need to work toward in your business or your personal life. The kinds of items you put on a vision board can include things that you want to get, places you want to visit, etc. It’s easy to make it into a glorified wish-list, but it’s more than that.

Okay, but why do I need one?

Vision Boards act as a daily reminder of your goals.

You know those post-it notes that you scribble ideas onto, only for them to get lost in the shuffle of day to day life? Your vision board is the place for those post it notes to get some attention. Boards are better, bigger, broader than a to-do list. You won’t find, “Grocery shopping, Finish all of the laundry, Wash the windows” on a vision board. But you will find, “Become Senior Account Manager, Save $500 this month, Go to NYC for the holidays,” and things of the like.

Visuals = Visualization

Seeing goals in a visual way, either written down or through photos, EVERY DAY, is proven to help you achieve them. It’s much easier to visualize yourself on that tropical vacation when you have photos of Bora Bora to look at.

They help you Live with Intention

One of my favorite quotes is, “Do something today that your future self will thank you for,” (Unknown). I love it so much that I have it painted on a canvas right next to my own vision board. A few months ago, I made the realization that I was one of those people who simply exist. I had nothing I was actively working towards, nothing I put effort into. Once that clicked in my head, I set out to make a change. I never wanted to become someone who didn’t strive for more. Vision Boards give you that boost, determination, and motivation to not only create goals, but achieve them.

How do I make one?

SMART Goals

The first thing I did when I set out to make my vision board, was I wrote out a list of my goals. The key with forming impactful goals is to use the SMART method: Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound. I first learned this in my exercise science class, but it works across all disciplines. For example, one of my goals is to Read 2 Pleasure Books Each Month. My goal is Specific – it’s clear what I need to do. It’s Measureable – 2 books. This goal is Achievable – I have plenty of free time before bed or in the morning that I waste on my phone, but I could be reading. It’s Relevant – better readers = better writers. Lastly, my goal is Time-Bound – 1 month. Forming your Goals this way make them that much more realistic and relevant in your mind.

Gather Photos

I looked through my own personal photos, magazines (Thanks, Real Simple!), and the world wide web to find the pictures I used on my board. I found photos for every category I had :

Things I want to get

Things I want to achieve

Places I want to go

Little Joys

My Brand

Next, I sorted the photos into piles on my cork-board to get myself a little more organized.

Get Pinning!

To start everything off, I pinned my Brand photos to the top left corner of my board. I tried to keep all of the categories relatively close to each other, with my Little Joys scattered around. For my Brand, I pinned up my logo, parts of my color scheme, a sunflower I drew years ago but have kept with me, and a little blurb saying “Find your Light.”

From there, I added in Things I Want to Get in my top right corner. These included a Vlogging Camera, Kayak, New Laptop, and a photo of my Dream Kitchen, which symbolizes a clean and happy living space that I want to create for myself.

After those two categories were up and in place, I put my Things I Want to Achieve photos.

These included photos of boxing gloves (my new favorite hobby), wallets, a cast iron pan (so I FINALLY can cook a nice dinner for my family), ACSM Logo, a graphic of page views, 10k Balloons to hopefully celebrate 10k followers, and a 4.0 GPA to inspire me to aim high in school next semester. All of these photos represent SMART goals that I’ve planned out!

Lastly, I have photos of Venice Beach, Nashville, and Cinque Terre, the three biggest places on my Travel Bucket List. I could have chosen anywhere, but these three places are miles higher on my list than anywhere else, and I have a plan to get me there.

In addition to my goal photos, pictures of some family and friends remind me to prioritize them, and not forget about my relationships in this year of self-development and focus. The rest of the photos are all my Little Joys and Motivational Quotes!

At the end of the day, this is what my vision board looks like. All of these photos mean something to me and motivate me. They inspire me to Live with Intention. This board is posted in my room so it’s the first thing I see each morning. I can’t wait to check back in next year and share with you everything this board has inspired me to do, and everything you’ve accomplished too!